Robert K Stephen (CSW)

RKS 2023 Wine: L.A. Cetto Petite Sirah: Treasure of the Sierra Madre?

I recently watched John Huston directed “Treasure of the Sierra Madre”. The 1947 film centres on the hunt for gold in the Sierra Madre Mountain range in Mexico. Bogart is a sociopath and Walter Huston an entertaining and honest old coot. Is there treasure in this L.A. Cetto Petite Sirah from Mexico? I saw aContinue reading “RKS 2023 Wine: L.A. Cetto Petite Sirah: Treasure of the Sierra Madre?”

RKS 2023 Film: “back home” at Vancouver International Film Festival

Canadian Nisha Platzer has crafted a moving documentary about the suicide of her brother Josh that occurring in Vancouver when Josh was 15 and Nisha 11. Josh was suffering from clinical depression at the time of his suicide. Nisha has dim memories of the death of Josh and convenes both family and friends to giveContinue reading “RKS 2023 Film: “back home” at Vancouver International Film Festival”

RKS Literature: Doctors as Empty Headed? (Thomas Mann)

“Indeed, the doctor’s calling is not different from any other: its practitioners are for the most part ordinary empty-headed folk, ready to see what is not there and to deny the obvious. Any untrained person, if he loves and has knowledge of the flesh, is their superior and in the mysteries of art can leadContinue reading “RKS Literature: Doctors as Empty Headed? (Thomas Mann)”

RKS Literature: School as Prison (Thomas Mann)

“I am only able to live when my mind and my fancy are completely free; and this it is that memory of my years in prison actually less hateful to me than those of the ostensibly more honourable bond of slavery and fear which chafed my sensitive boyish soul when I was forced to attendContinue reading “RKS Literature: School as Prison (Thomas Mann)”

RKS 2023 Wine: Italian Merlot Could be the Change You Need!

It is not frequently we encounter Italian Merlot as a single varietal in Canada. So we have a chance now with a somewhat unique Terre Magre Merlot from Friuli. Aroma: Black cherry, blackberry and cola with some intensity. Palate: A robust aroma for a wine does not always equate with a robust wine! Not muchContinue reading “RKS 2023 Wine: Italian Merlot Could be the Change You Need!”

RKS 2023 Film: “Out of the Loop: Chicago Comedy Is No Joke”

I have no problems with Chicago and who cares if it is the Murder Capital of the United States! City of Vultures some say! A properly developed waterfront unlike my butchered Toronto. Great food. Skyscrapers. All assuming you aren’t in the wrong neighbourhood at the wrong time and end up with a bullet in yourContinue reading “RKS 2023 Film: “Out of the Loop: Chicago Comedy Is No Joke””

RKS 2023 Wine: Viña Tarapacá Gran Reserva Biodiversity Organic Wine: Confessions of a Rat!

Here we have an organic red blend from the Maipo Valley in Chile consisting of 58% Carmenère, 29% Cabernet Sauvignon, 11% Petit Verdot and 2% Cabernet Franc. It has aged a year in French oak barrels. Aroma: Raspberry, blueberry, blackberries and root beer. I can detect some acidity on the nose hoping it will beContinue reading “RKS 2023 Wine: Viña Tarapacá Gran Reserva Biodiversity Organic Wine: Confessions of a Rat!”

RKS Literature: The Essence of Zorba the Greek

“If today I were to choose a spiritual guide from the whole wide world- a “guru” as they say in India, a venerable father as the monks say in Mount Athos-the one that I would choose without fail would be Zorba. He possessed precisely what a pen pusher needs for deliverance: the primitive glance thatContinue reading “RKS Literature: The Essence of Zorba the Greek”

RKS Literature: Making a Proper Toilette (Thomas Mann)

“The preparation, the lavish equipment for what should have been the serious business of life used up all his energy. How much mental effort had been expended simply in making the proper toilette. How much time and attention went to his supplies of cigarettes, soaps, and perfumes; how much occasion for making up his mindContinue reading “RKS Literature: Making a Proper Toilette (Thomas Mann)”

RKS 2023 Wine: A Greek Tragedy? The Blood of a Lion Killed by Hercules?

So little Greek wine flows into Canada and that in itself is a tragedy. The choice is almost no choice and if you are a fan of red wine we seem to have wholesale buyers enamoured with Xinomavro which if well made needs age to be enjoyable somewhat like Italian Barolo. Young Xinomavro is highlyContinue reading “RKS 2023 Wine: A Greek Tragedy? The Blood of a Lion Killed by Hercules?”